All of Me
by ClumsyAme
Summary: He had followed her tumbled steps back to the remains of sanctuary, to her conversation with the Mr. Handy known as Codsworth, to her first night in her abandon house, listening to her hollow tape of her late husband her tears. All the way through the commonwealth, until she finally stumbled at HQ. He had waited for so long to finally meet her, that close at least. SSF/Deacon
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I'm a huge fan of fallout 4, and the whole game set up, but man am I mad about not being able to romance Deacon. So here goes nothing :)**

 **By the way, it's been 10 years since I've been writing fanfiction, so excuse my grammar and spelling mistakes. I do NOT own any of the characters, just playing with them.**

Chapter 1

 _Nora stood at the shooting range with a 10-mm gun, with a calm and stern face she fired the one after the other. Nate stood beside her and was impressed by her shooting._

 _Nora placed her gun on the table and took of her earmuffs, and smiled at her date._

 _"_ _Not bad, your kind of sexy with a gun" he said and moved closer to her and pushed the button as the target was hauled in._

 _"_ _Is that a compliment?" She asked seductively, and placed a hand on his chest._

 _Nate smiled and glanced at the target, she had not missed once._

 _"_ _Let's keep it at compliment for now, I wouldn't be the one to piss you off" he said and winked at her, making her heart skip a beat._

Nora was lying on the ground with a sniper rifle, Deacon was beside her with his own rifle. Nora closed her eyes, before she opening them and aimed against a passing raider. She held her breath and fired the shot, before Deacon could react.

She did not say a word before she took another one down, Deacon turned to her and looked at her, Maybe for a tad bit too long. Her hair was up away from her face, her lips slightly bit, which was a sign of her concentrating, a habit he had caught early on when he had followed her from the vault. He was glancing at her curves in the vault suit, and caught himself enjoying what he saw, and he quickly shook his head.

"You know, you could just go to a shooting range?" He said in a calm voice, his partner

Nora fired another shot and sighed as she turned her face towards Deacon and smiled.

"that obvious?" she then gestured a "please be my guest" with her hand.

Their mission was quite simple, safe house simple, other than the fact that it was filled with Raiders now. There were still survivors, after all some of these "people" Had a thing for torture, which made Nora sick to her stomach.

Nora had to admit that she was a bit frustrated by the fact that she had not been able to get herself over to CIT.

She was constantly finding excuse missions, it was as if she was almost afraid of what she might find over on the other side if their plan worked.

"I'm sorry, I'm just… not ready" the last part was said in a faint mumble.

Deacon looked at her with concern in his eyes, he knew her well enough to know that this was not her usual self.

Nora suddenly sat up and leaned against the wall and sighed, trying to gather the courage to move on. The thought of missing this many years of her son's life was a horrible feeling, she hated that she felt so guilty. Obviously, it was not her fault, and she knew that, but the guilt still boiled inside of her.

"Let's go to CIT afterwards" her facial expression was with determination. She moved quickly and silently and Deacon followed, he had always wondered how she could move the way she did. It was as if it all came naturally to her, but he did not dare to ask, he never had. She was a good spy, so why ruin it all the mystery, he had to admit to himself that he liked to see her move so silently and gracefully.

Nora stood beside a locked door and reached down to her bag, but suddenly a sort of panic ran over her eyes.

"Damnit" She exclaimed in annoyance, but not too loud.

"What? I didn't steal anything" Deacon joked and raised his hands.  
"I got this" she said and pulled out her bobby pins from her hair and let her hair loose. Deacon was a bit surprised on how different she looked, he quite liked it.

"You look horrible" he said with a stern face, while she was picking the lock.

Nora turned her head and chuckled "You are an ass" she said and heard the satisfying click sound and she placed the bobby pins in her bag.

She grabbed her sniper rifle and carefully opened the door, to reveal a raider standing in front of two captive railroad spies, and another raider outside by the nearby window.

She turned her head to Deacon and signalled him to go on the other side and get the raider, Nora took her aim and crouched, so that she had her elbow on her knees, stabilizing her arm and took aim. She held her breath and pulled the trigger, and at the same time Deacon had taken down the other raider.

He then opened the window and gave her a thumb up, she smiled and quickly ran over to the two survivors.

"Thank you, thank you so much" they said and took her hands in theirs.

"No need to thank me, just get to HQ" she said and they nodded to her in agreement, before leaving the safe house.

"Well that was fun" Deacon said while lighting his cigarette, which was not Nora's favourite thing in the world, but after the world was turned around, she tolerated it.

 _Nora walked down the side of the road before, knowing very well that she was followed. She turned a corner and waited for the person to come to her, she saw his shoes by the corner and hit him with her purse. Grabbing his hand with the gun in it, and kicked him in the head, pulling the gun from his grasp. He punched her in the face, which knocked her a bit out of focus, before she punched him back and kicked him in the stomach, making him drop his gun._

 _She had his arm in her hands and twisted it, then slammed his head on the ground with her leg and placing her heel on against his temple._

 _"_ _CIA, Attorney Nora Johnson you're under arrest" she said and placed the cuffs on his wrist, before letting her co-workers do the rest. Due to the war, there was not many field agents left, and she a desk mouse, had to get out in the field. She hated to admit it, but it was to her liking._

 _Nora had arrived home just in time, before she had to say goodbye to her husband. It was hard for her to not to show her emotions, she would memorize every inch of him, his smell, the sound of his voice._

 _"_ _Hey honey" Nate said, he was wearing his military fatigue and his bag swung over his shoulder. He stopped in his tracks as he saw his wife's sad face and surprisingly blue eye._

 _"_ _Ouch. I'd hate to see the guy" he said and placed a hand on her cheek smiling, he kissed her gently and hated the fact that he had to leave her, they had only been married a few months and he was already called for duty._

 _Nora chuckled by his comment and kissed him back._

 _"_ _Should have stayed a lawyer" she said and pulled him down for another kiss not wanting to let him go._

Nora looked around seeing the synth and had the courser locked down on the ground, she had temporarily run out of ammo. Deacon was in the shadows being her back up, he could not believe what he just saw, he had never seen her in a hand to hand combat, and he had to admit that he was more getting more and more curious about who Nora was before her icing.

She held the arm in her hand, and had her feet against his head, before snapping it. She was out of breath and tired, she knew that this mission was not easy and she was thankful that Deacon had her back.

Deacon walked towards her from the shadows and whistled.

"Wow, remind me not to get on your bad side" Deacon chuckled under his breath, he bended down to remove the device from the cursor.

"Where did you learn that? No wait doesn't answer" he said and pointed with the device in his hands.

"Super assassin" he joked

"Well. Not exactly" She said and ended the conversation there leaving him hanging, she picked up her shotgun rifle from the ground.

"Looks like I need to go ammo hunting… maybe I have enough caps to by some on the way back" she muttered and started counting her caps. She ran her fingers through her long hair and sighed, she hated when her hair was loose it was just everywhere, she had found an elastic band and pulled her hair up in a ponytail.

"Got everything?" She asked Deacon as he rose from the ground.

"Got it Boss" he said and pulled down his glasses slightly and winked at her before heading with her out of the building.

Nora stood in front of the machine, it was almost done, they had decided to build in the safety behind the walls of castle. She played with the rings around her neck, and could feel how sweaty her hands were getting and how nervous she was to find her son again. It scared her, to her bones.

 _Nora snuggled in her bed alone, placing a hand on her stomach. It felt like yesterday that Nate was sent home for just one day, on her birthday. They missed each other so much that they threw themselves at each other under the stars in the park. Nora could not help but chuckle remembering the scenario again, she would only wish for him to return home safely. Home safely to her, to them. She had just been to her last ultrasound, and all she had was the letters he wrote to her, and a few holodisks he could gather between his fights. One of them almost putting her into labour, he had forgotten to turn of the recorder, and she could follow each of his steps for a good 30 min, before he realized that he had it turned on. His voice was apologetic and kind, and she know that they could get their hands on that many holotapes during the war, so she had to treasure it._

 _She looked down at the unassembled Mr. Handy and sighed, Nathan had convinced her to buy one to keep her company, and has insurance. A sudden clump in her throat had crept up, she had to cough a bit before getting herself together, he was going to come home, he always did. Her heart could not take it if something would happen to him, he was her life what was she supposed to do without him._

 _"_ _Your father will come home to us, just two more weeks, and it's over" she whispered, while gently caressing her stomach._

She felt a hand on her shoulder and was startled, until she saw the familiar sunglasses.

"There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so."

Nora let out a small smile, she knew that Deacon had a thing for Shakespeare, and she had to admit, at this age and time, it was nice to know someone in this god forsaken hole had an appreciation of art.

"Hamlet" she whispered, before glancing down at her hands, they were not the usual soft looking hands she was used to. These hands had been through a lot in the last year than ever, they were rough and dirty, she could almost not recognise them. Deacon sat in front of her, and hated when she was this silent, it made him weary and sad.

"Hey Charmer, you look like you could need a drink" he said with a relaxed smile.

"You know since you are probably with a good sense of luck end up like meat sauce tomorrow" he said jokingly and watched her reaction behind his dark shades.

"Why thank you? I guess, I think I would go well in a bowl of spaghetti" she suggested lightly, and leaned forward in her chair, this conversation made her relax, and she needed it. Either she would end up dying during the process of finding her son, or she would succeed, and he would be there, just there within an arm's reach.

"Or Lasagne" Deacon joked likely before leaned forward himself, their face was close, enough for him to smell her, the scent of pre-war beauty.

"Third rail?" he whispered, with a smile. "I can get you so drunk, that it might even make the lasagne taste good."

Nora tried to keep a straight face "I dare you" she said and pulled a small smile.

 **A/N: I've been going back and forth if I should publish this story or not, and now I've decided that it is time. I've been working on this since summer 2016, I hope that you enjoyed this chapter. Please leave a review, and look forward to the next chapter.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I do not own any of the characters, just playing around with them**

Chapter 2

A few months earlier

Nora stood in front of the Memory Den again, she had gotten herself a bit drunk it had been 3 months since she woke up and only a week ago, she killed Kellogg. Yesterday she had just witnessed the memories of the man she had killed, it was an odd sensation of satisfaction that came over her. And yes, she could not help but feel a bit weird about it. She doesn't know why but she ended up at the Memory Den, convincing herself that this was a good idea. Her partner had just given her a long talk how it was never a good idea to go down here. It could get addicting, and remove yourself from the reality you once knew. But what kind of reality was this, all the destruction and chaos around her, maybe just for a moment, she wanted to reminisce her husband's face.

She talked briefly with Irma, before moving on to Dr. Amari. She finally got the courage to sit down and take it all in. Deacon walked in and waved to the good doctor

"Hey Doc, what are you up to? Hey isn't that... ught"

Dr. Amari gave him an elbow in the stomach to make him shut up.

 _'_ _Nora looked around and found her memory of when she first meets Nate, she was wearing a military uniform. A tight skirt, dark blue, a white shirt and a dark blue blazer. She put on her military hat before walking towards the mirror to pin it down with some hairpins. Her hair was put up in a low bun, and a curl was on top of her head. Her lips were bright red, she took a deep breath before heading towards the door, where soldiers were waiting for her to accompany her._

 _Her boss an elderly man stood there waiting for her, and smiled "Miss Johnson, it's good to see you, now let me show you around, and excuse my men, it's not every day that we get a military attorney who is a woman"_

 _"_ _I'll take it as a compliment" she said with a calm smile._

 _She was shown around the base, and at last her office, it was simple not too many things yet, but she would make it hers._

 _He man closed the door behind her and she glanced around and placed a hand on her desk with a smile, it was a long journey but it was worth it._

 _She then decided to open the door, but was suddenly tackled to the ground._

 _"_ _What the he…" she yelled, her hat was in front of her eyes and she placed a hand up to feel a pair of muscles, and lifted her hat gently, to see a young man smiling at her worryingly._

 _"_ _I'm sorry miss, my friend pushed me and well sorry" he said and got up on his feet and reached out a hand to help her up._

 _"_ _Thank you, well…. I must warn you soldier attacking a military attorney is not seen with kind eyes" she stated bluntly while reaching out for his hand and he pulled out a smile at her, that could melt her heart._

 _"_ _General, but thank you for making me feel a lot younger."_

 _He then kept on holding onto her hand "Nate Thompson, it's nice to meet you Miss Johnson" he said and gave her a small wink, before letting her hand go and leaving her in silence. "I hope to see you again soon" he said and saluted her, before leaving the hallway with his colleagues.'_

Deacon, stood in front of the monitor in silence. The old world was quite the charming place, he was fascinated by what he saw, and could not help but wish himself back in time. When he saw Nora, his heart stopped for a moment, he had gotten used to all the dirt she had in her face, and her messy hair. He never saw her in that way, the past relic she was, for some reason it tickled in his soul, which was buried somewhere in a dark place. Kept safely from any kind of emotions, he could not afford to fall in love, or to feel anything like that again.

He closed his eyes and clenched his fist, counting to ten before greeting his drunk partner from the Memory Den, unknowingly that he was watching her the whole time.

He had been always being by her side, always since the start.

 _Deacon rocked back and forth in his chair, while taking a inhale of cigarette now and then. Blowing out the toxic smoke casually, and flicking his cigarette. He didn't always smoke, but ever since his dear Barbara died, he just needed a distraction, a bad habit, and this was the answer, sort of solution. He tried to keep his hands away from alcohol, even though the temptation was there, and the drugs, anything to forget the sight of his beloved wife, bleeding on the floor. The things he did afterwards, he still haunted him. But at some point, he had to accept the reality, and bite it in him._

 _He leaned placed his cigarette in the ashtray and picked up his binoculars, scouting the area again. 'well so much for a lot of activity' he thought to himself a bit annoyingly, was his intel wrong? He had been here for weeks now, and he had to admit, that he was usually a patient person, but being out here for almost 3 months, made him a bit annoyed. He could enter the vault, he had already tried numerous way, even Tinker Tom couldn't help him with the task, he just had to sit and wait._

 _That was until he felt the ground give a horrible shake, he was taken completely by surprise, because he had looked the other way for a few minutes, completely in his own thoughts. He almost fell of his chair and dropping his dark shades, he quickly regained his balance, and ducked hiding himself from view, yet keeping an eye on the ground in front of him._

 _Then he saw her, a woman, a woman, he might have stared at her for a bit too long._

 _Watching he looking around with confusion, tears in her eyes and completely out of breath. Her skin was damp, like a cold nuka cola on a hot summer day._

 _She looked like she had stepped out from the cover of a prewar magazine, her hair was a mess but still in perfect curls, her lips were not dry form the harsh commonwealth weather._

He had followed her tumbled steps back to the remains of sanctuary, to her conversation with the Mr. Handy known as Codsworth, to her first night in her abandon house, listening to her hollow tape of her late husband her tears. All the way through the commonwealth, until she finally stumbled at HQ. He had waited for so long to make finally meet her, that close at least. He had convinced Desdemona, that it was a good idea to let her in, and Nora had used her impressive skills to convince her further, it was a sort of altruism. He knew she was looking for her son, and he knew that she would have to get to the institute to do so. They were both being selfish in their own ways.

But he would never leave his partner, not for a second, they had grown close. A sort of symbiotic lifestyle, and somehow it pleased Deacon and scared him at the same time. He always kept his distance, by pulling out pranks on her, like the time he convinced her that he was a synth. She was so mad at him that she threw the paper in his face, and didn't talk to him for hours, but she took it more lightly the second time he pulled another prank on her. She laughed and called him a jerk.

He was thankful for their friendship, and how it had involved through time, every moment of it, mostly the near-death moments. When he became a bit uncertain with himself, he would always hide it by make a stupid joke out of it, or throw some sarcasm in the air.

 _Deacon was lying on a bench in Sanctuary, reading In Search of Lost Time, by Marcel Proust. It was his treasured possession, and even though he had been reading it again and again for some time, he could not help but just pick it up again whenever he had a free moment. Sanctuary had been almost a second home to him lately and Nora and the minutemen, had done a great job with making it to a whole community, and rebuilding the broken homes._

 _He heard a familiar footstep nearing him, but he kept his head hidden in his beloved book. Then he heard her speak "A La Recherche Du Temps Perdu", French, who would have known, and her voice made it sound even more delicate._

 _He kept his head buried in the book, with one hand and the other held his head. His eyes had wandered to his partner in crime, she was wearing a pair of black jeans, a brown leather jacket, and a pair of brown boots. Her rifle was placed behind her back, a simple look. And nothing compared to when she stumbled to the surface and he got to see all her curves. But she was an indeed a beautiful distraction, something that he would tell her now and then._

 _She pulled a soft smile. "I thought you were literally joking when you said;_ _Here I was wanting to spend the day reading Proust, then you had to go and ruin it!" She said and chuckled, and stood right beside him, with her arms crossed._

 _"_ _I didn't know you could speak French" he stated bluntly_

 _"_ _I didn't know you knew what French was" she remarked quickly_

 _He slowly sat up so that she could sit next to him, and she took a seat by his side. He then pulled down his glasses "NO lie, but I'm actually not American, I just love to tell people that I am. My name is actually Pierre and I'm from France." he said and gave her a small wink at the end of his story, and placed his glasses back to where they belonged. Nora took a minute or two to just take in what he just said, before a skeptic facial reaction slowly appeared on her face. Deacon just casually went back his reading by leaning back down again, placing his legs up on her thighs, before she could even object. "I'm not even… going to." she just raised her hands up in defeat, and accepting the whole situation, even though she knew that he was bullshitting her._

 _Behind the book, Deacon pulled into a smile, with a hint of satisfaction._

~A~

Present day

Nora was sitting a Piper's place in diamond city, trying to calm her nerves, the thought of either surviving the trip, and making it to the institute was one thing. What if she didn't make it and she didn't survive, was it all for nothing. The debate kept going back and forth in her mind, but she concluded in the end that she would do anything for her child. Which mother would not, the love for her Shaun was all she had left from Nate.

She closed her eyes for a second and suddenly felt a hand on her shoulder

"Hey you okay?" Piper said with a smile and sat down beside her friend, trying to comfort her.

"Yeah I'm just thinking" She said with an uncertain smile.

"Well either way, since you we are sending you off with a party at the third rail, I bought you a little something, since you need, some serious new attire, and Blue, I still remember when you showed up in that blue attire dear God, don't even get me started." she said and laughed "That was like walking around with a huge target on your back, I'm just thankful that Valentine talked you into wearing something else. Here take this" She said and handed her a small package, she let out a smile and suddenly got reminded that this whole place might be a shithole, but that good friendship still exists.

She pulled out a dark blue sequin dress and looked surprised at it.

"Oh, Wow Piper, you shouldn't have, this is too much" she quickly blurred out.

Piper let out a small laugh and placed a hand on Nora's.

"Blue you deserve it, you deserve a night with no worries, and enjoy yourself. You have been through so much, and you are almost at your finish line. Let yourself enjoy the night for a moment, let us, instead of being complete death machines on mission, be friends that are just celebrating you"

Nora felt a sudden urge to hug her friend, and pulled her in for a big hug.

"Thank you, Piper, you are a true friend."

~A~

Nora sat in front of a dirty broken mirror, it had seen better days, but this was what you could get out from the big commonwealth. It had been such a long time since she last had done something with her looks, it took her back to the days that were much more simple. To the days when her biggest worry during her maternity leave, was what kind of dinner she was going to cook, and whether Shaun was going to grow up to be a good man.

Her wonders made her think for a good 5 minutes, before she realized that all of that was in the past now.

She got up on her feet, and walked towards her shoes while putting in her earrings that Valentine gave her as a thank you gift, for helping him with his personal revenge on Edward Winter.

She dragged her feet, against the cold floor, feeling a bit ambivalent of the whole situation. It was weird her friends, throwing a party to send her off like this, was it in pure empathy or an actual celebration. She couldn't really decide, but she accepted it either way, there was no reason not to, since she had gotten this far.

Deacon sat in the third rail, sipping his drink. This was one of the few occasions that he would ever bourbon, not that he particularly missed it in any way, and it was in his opinion dangerous to be drinking too much. It would always lead to more trouble than it should. But he thought just for tonight, he could make an exception.

Everyone was casually hanging out, completely spread out in the whole bar, talking to each other or newcomers, with the sweet voice of Magnolia in the background. No matter where he went he would always keep track to where people where, it gave him a leading hand if anything should go south.

He took another sip, before he heard Whitechapel Charlie state an "Oh my", and Hancock who sat beside him, accidently got his beer stuck in his throat and coughed wildly. Deacon's gaze turned to where most of the attention was.

Nora's hair was swept to the side, curls falling like a waterfall, caressing her prewar porcelain face. Her lips were bright red, and her dress made her look even more ravishing, if he had not been wearing his sunglasses, he was caught staring way too long.

 **A/N: I've decided to end the chapter here, since I still want to build up the dynamic between them. I'm continuing this story, since I'm in love with the characters of fallout 4. I'm a big fan of the work of Pinoko K, and it literally the best fanfiction I have ever read, and I am nowhere near that kind of talent. But most of my inspiration comes from there. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and look forward to the next one.**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: So I hit a major writer's block and everything is going quite slowly, but I felt inspired the past week to write another chapter.**

 **I hope you enjoy it and remember to leave a review, and tell me what you think.**

Chapter 3

 _Deacon stopped dead in his tracks while scavenging the store for whatever was useful._

 _"Hey Charmer, look at this" he said and picked up a small ukulele, which was surprisingly intact._

 _"Mini guitar!" he yelled holding it up, like it was victorious find, Nora rolled her eyes, but couldn't help but smile at this fool._

 _"It's an ukulele Deacon, not a mini guitar." she said almost bursting his bubble, this man was sometimes like a small kid, she then kept searching for more scrapes to bring back to HQ, that they could use._

 _When they reached back to HQ, Nora sighed in relief as she hit the mattress in the far end of the room, she monitored everyone who was in the room following their every movement. She couldn't help but smile to herself when her eyes fell on Deacon and his stupid grin revealing a lie to Tinker Tom, making him freak more out._

 _A dysfunctional family he once said, with guns, her mind added._

 _She slumped back, closing her eyes, she needed the rest, but had trouble sleeping, unfortunately a recurring thing lately. She would sleep for a good two hours, and she would wake up confused and wondering where she was. The first couple of months was unbearable for her. Her mind was starting to wander, she looked to her side and saw Deacon's back not too far away from her. She watched him, for every deep breath he took, she wanted to touch him. But she knew that he wasn't the hugging type kind of guy, but when she asked him to lay beside her to give her a sense of comfort it helped, until her heart started to slowly fall into his favor._

 _She took a deep breath while closing her eyes, trying not to overthink it. Was it even fair that her husband's cold corpse still was in the cryo chamber, while she was here suddenly falling for someone new. God, the guilt was building up in her, she rose from the mattress, quietly not to wake Deacon._

 _When she got on her feet she suddenly saw the "mini guitar" that Deacon had found, and by pure instinct she picked it up and took it with her._

 _She walked down the dusty catacomb and arrived at the church above ground, the night sky was breathtaking to look at. If you didn't know that you have ended up in an apocalyptic world, then you would never have guessed it._

 _She sat down and played with the strings, trying to tune it, carefully listening to every note, it had been a long time since she last held one of these._

 _The last time she did was when Shaun, didn't want to sleep, and Nate wasn't home for the first time in 4 weeks, she was alone with him. Nate was away, finishing some military formalities in Washington. She knew that it wouldn't be long before he was home again, but she admitted that being a temporary single parent wasn't easy that night._

 _She closed her eyes for a moment, before starting to sing along the notes she was playing._

 _"Moon river, wider than a mile…. I'm crossing you in style someday… oh dream maker you heart breaker…."_

 _Deacon woke up, suddenly feeling a lack of warmth from behind him, he knew that she had trouble sleeping lately, and he didn't blame her. It had already been a year since she woke up from the freezer, and surfaced to a complete world of chaos. He remembered when he had lost Barbara, how the year just quickly went by, but after being reminded of it a year later, it was harsh, as if reality just punched you in the face harder than a punch from a Deathclaw._

 _He rose up a few minutes after her, he just wanted to make sure that she didn't do anything rash, after all he had been through it all a decade ago._

 _He suddenly stopped is walking, when he heard notes from a ukulele echoing down the catacombs, and he smiled in surprise when he suddenly heard her voice. It was soft and gentle, it was like liquid gold, he enjoyed it fully closing his eyes for a moment taking it all in. He stood crouched by the entrance hiding himself behind the wall, watching her like the old days. Her face was lit up by the moonlight, making his heart skip a beat._

 _"Who would have known" he stated to himself, a sudden warmth spread throughout his body, and he tried to shake it off, but it stuck with him until everything went quiet. He quickly moved back to the where he came from, and felt his cheeks burning, what just happened? Was he falling for the Wanderer?_

Deacon watched her movements down the stairs, had she always looked this beautiful? Of course, she did, now he just was in denial, or rather he was used to seeing her with dirt all over her sweaty face. Her hair was always in one big mess, since she hated wearing her hair down, it was in the way during a fight. So, this was how pre-war ladies looked like, he liked it. He could suddenly feel his heart beat a bit faster, for every smile that Nora gave around her.

"They don't make them this way anymore" Deacon accidently said under his breath, but not as low as he wanted it to be.

"No, they definitely don't" Hancock replied, patting his mouth with his sleeve.

Valentine walked towards Nora and smiled with his arms wide open.

"You bring me back, to the good old day" he said and took her hands to get a better look at her.

"It was Piper's idea" She said and nodded over to her partner in crime.

"Well, it was better than the vault suit… like much better" Piper said with a smile, she was wearing a purple sequin dress herself, and Nora was happy to see that mostly everyone had dressed up.

Deacon watched her every movement, she moved with such grace and dignity and before he knew it she was right in front of him. Luckily his always cool attitude and shades saved him from revealing his intense staring.

Hancock made the first move, and grabbed her hand and planted a light kiss on it, which made Deacon a bit uneasy, he wasn't sure why. But he suddenly felt an urge to just grab her and get out of here, but he stayed put in silence.

"Hello mi 'lady" Hancock said with a smile, he was a flirt there was no doubt about it, this was in his nature, but Nora always saw through him and turned to look at Deacon with a smile.

"Well hello boys, charming Hancock, you know that I'm not that kind of dame" she said with a smirk.

No, he doesn't know, was the sentence that went through Deacon's mind. He knew exactly what was going on with him, he knew this feeling. A feeling that he hadn't felt since…. Since what felt like so long ago. He didn't like it, he knew it was a bad idea, a dangerous road, a path he shouldn't be taking. But he was just drawn to her, in pure inner panic he just instinctively gulped the last of his bourbon down before ordering another one, realizing how weird that must have looked he quickly discreetly changed the order to two instead.

He got up on his feet, grabbing the two drinks and walking towards Nora, handing her one. He should probably speak, instead of being so weird right? Too much suspicion if the pathological liar suddenly was quite all sudden.

"I was that kind of dame, when I was a woman for a while" Deacon said with the most normal and relaxed facial expression.

The look on Hancock's face was priceless, but his partner on the other hand, had already which made her shake her head lightly and smile as she took her glass from his hand.

Deacon was wearing a black suit and a black bow tie, completely unlike him, and she liked it, it was flattering on him. She could feel her stomach suddenly making a small loop inside of her

"Well you clean up well yourself, partner" Nora said to Deacon with a soft smile.

Before taking a sip of her drink, and looked around, was this a party to celebrate that they succeeded on building the machine, or was this a farewell party for her? She was quite unsure, but decided not to think more about it. The more thought she put into it, the more she wanted to regret and back out. She had to do this, suck it up and do this for her son.

A few hours had passed, and Nora was starting to feel the alcohol in her blood, influencing her every move, everybody had left, and it was late, she didn't know exactly what time it was, but her body was telling her it was so.

Deacon sat beside her, her own guardian angel that always was by her side, thick and thin, he was the cloak and she was the dagger. He had made a horrible joke, that normally only he would have found dead funny, but she... She would always laugh at his jokes. He had convinced her to leave the third rail, since they were the only ones left and he followed her over to Hotel Rexford to make sure that she wasn't getting herself into trouble, and the fact that she could barely stand made him laugh internally. They were sitting on a couch in the bedroom, enjoying what possibly could be the last bourbon he shared with her, before her unknowingly fate.

This made Deacon drink more than he usually would, was it because he was with her, that he tended to relax more, put his guards down. One of his rules was not to get drunk, like ever, a drink or two was not a problem, but getting drunk was against his own rule. It could potentially get you killed, and you could trust no one.

His trail of thoughts was suddenly interrupted as Nora spoke.

"Hey… Deacon… What is up with this" Nora said and raised her hand and made a circle gesture.

"Well, I didn't want to stand out, so I did have to get rid of the smell of death and… no wait just the smell, can you believe that I actually showered, just for you" he said with a smirk, and fixed his bow tie with both of his hands.

"Bloody Nora. No, silly you're glasses" Nora said before holding her mouth, realizing that she didn't speak like she used to around him.

Deacon was taken by surprise by her sudden change of accent, he was not about to let the subject just fly away.

"Nora?"

"Shhh.." Nora said and placed a finger on her mouth, making a long shush gesture, and giggled a bit to herself, which Deacon couldn't help but find a bit adorable.

"Do you want to know a secret?" she whispered, as she moved closer to him, it spiked his interest, even though he already knew the answer to that.

"Let me guess, you come from the land of Copperfield and Twist isn't that so my dear Lucie Manette?" he said as he moved closer to her face, he could smell the scent of lavender, something that Nora had cooked up during their trips, since she was from world, were baths were highly valued, it was a force of habit force of habit from her side. She made it herself whenever she had the time, and Deacon absolutely loved the smell, it drove him insane if he wasn't careful.

"Hmm, nice on Mr. Darnay, I must say not bad" she pointed a finger at him

 _Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities_ , she thought, he never seized to amaze her, she gave him a smirk that made Deacon's heart race, she didn't move away from him.

He had never heard her speak with a British accent before, and he liked it. Not that her American accent wasn't sexy, and all, but this influenced him that he hadn't seen coming.

He had done some research on her, and knew very well that she wasn't a full blooded American.

"My father was American, my mother on the other hand, British, god she hated in whenever I would say water in an American accent, I did it mostly just to bother her." she said slipping into her pre-war old self.

"But the world went to shit, and you could say that during the war I had a lot to do. I was you…. A pre-war Deacon, lying, disguising… yeah you definitely you" she said switching back to her American accent, while pulling away from him, and leaned back into the couch. Which at some point disappointed Deacon, in the back of his mind he knew that it was better this way.

"I like it" he blurted out without thinking, was the alcohol slowly reaching his common sense, probably so.

He could feel that his control of his body was slipping away, and he couldn't say that he hated it. He hadn't moved since she leaned back, but pulled a small smile as a sort of rescue from his sudden blurt.

Nora looked at him with kind eyes, and suddenly leaned forward.

"Good gracious, I'm drunk" she said switching back again, he had to admit that he enjoyed seeing her like this, a sort of entertainment.

"Well count me in" Deacon said and took his glass to his mouth realizing that it was empty, he reached out for the bottle and emptied it.

Nora suddenly made a move and kicked of her shoes and swung them up on Deacon's lap, he tried not to act to surprised, but couldn't blame her in her state of mind.

Her head was resting on the armrest, her eyes closed, and her breathing was heavy. Her hair was all over the place and to him she looked gorgeous.

He quickly pushed the last thought he had in his mind away, before tipping his glass to his lips and emptying it. He must have sat there for an extra five minutes, before deciding that he probably should get moving. He couldn't let his emotions go all shit bat crazy, especially in his state. She wouldn't have to do much convincing, before she would win him over, not something that he wanted to risk.

Too much attachment, he blamed himself, and slowly moved her legs away, and onto the couch, quietly rising on his feet. He had undone his bowtie, so it was resting on his shoulders loosely, he glanced at her again and couldn't help but smile, before it quickly disappeared as he was reminded of what was going to happen soon.

Was she going to just disappear into thin air as if she never existed, or was she going to go over to the other side, and god knows what was waiting for her there.

Without knowing it he was leaning down close to her face, planting a kiss on her forehead, what the hell was he doing. Didn't he just have an internal argument with himself on how he shouldn't be close to her, and get attached, it would only get him killed, or worse her killed.

He couldn't go through with that feeling again, it was just too much pain and agony.

He stayed like that for longer than he should, enjoying the soft skin touching his lips just for a few seconds more before he slowly pulled back.

He suddenly felt a pull and opened his eyes to stare directly into her warm eyes, how he could get lost in them. Deacon froze and didn't know what he was supposed to do, he was like a kid caught stealing.

Nora held onto both ends of his tie with one hand, and stared at him, it was as if she could see right into his soul.

Her other hand slowly moved up to remove his glasses, and he let her, it wasn't like she hadn't tried to remove them before, but he always elegantly escaped her grasp.

Nora eyes widened, and she was taken by surprise, with how blue Deacon's eyes were.

"Wow" was all that could escape from her mouth.

"What… got something on my face" he said jokingly, another one of Deacon's quick remarks, that never seized to escape her.

"I just…" Nora whispered, and her eyes softened, Deacon's eyes wandered to her red lips, they looked tempting, and he saw how she suddenly bit her lower lip. _Shit_ was all that went through his mind.

"Nora… I'm sorry, I need to…." Deacon leaned forward and closed the gap between them, Nora was surprised by the sudden actions that she dropped his sunglasses on the floor and was pushed back on the couch.

She quickly gave into his kiss, and pulled his tie so he would get closer to her, and invited him to deepen the kiss.

His hand had snuck up behind her head, and gently pulling her hair, as he shifted his body on top of her, his other hand right beside her head to steady himself.

He pulled back and felt his face turn red, and then dead serious, as if he was pulled back to reality.

"I'm sorry, I can't this is a bad idea" he whispered.

To be continued...

 **A/N: I do hope that I will be able to post another chapter soon, but do be patient, since my block is at the moment coming and going constantly.**  
 **I'm a big fan of Charles Dickens, and decided to give a small nod to him, after all Deacon is a fan of Shakespeare and Proust, so why not also Dickens.**


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